Electric usage can vary month to month based upon a wide range of factors. Here are some of the most common causes.

Weather
The changing seasons brings with it a change in energy usage. Air conditioners and fans run more often on hot, humid summer days. And cold, blustery winter nights make furnaces run longer to maintain adequate heat.

Change in Life Styles
When the number of people within your household increases, your energy usage increases as well. Additional usage of lights, kitchen appliances, showers, washer and dryer, TVs, stereos, computers, and other appliances can easily increase energy usage.

Appliances
Adding a waterbed, freezer, hot tub, second refrigerator, or other electrical appliance will also increase your electric usage. The use of construction tools (saws, drills, electric lights, sanders, etc.) when remodeling a home can also increase electric usage.

Vacations Can Fool You
Vacations don't necessarily save you money on your electricity. Even though you're away, your refrigerator, freezer, furnace/air conditioner are still running. Depending on the billing cycle, decreased use of the range, toaster and iron could be spread over two bills. And don't forget you may have used extra energy getting ready for vacation, such as extra laundry.

Number of Days in Billing Cycle
Sometimes energy usage can seem higher due to the number of days in the billing cycle. Keep this in mind when comparing bills from previous months.

Analyzing your Energy Usage

1. When your energy usage seems high, ask yourself about any changes in weather, living habits, appliance usage, and the billing cycle.
2. Compare your usage to your usage a year ago, but remember that weather conditions vary from year to year, so February this year is not the same weather necessarily experienced in February of last year.
3. Still think the energy usage is more than it should be? Try this test.
   • Shut off all the breakers in the house, and then check the meter. The meter should completely stop turning. If it continues to turn, you may have a short between the meter and the breaker box. If so, call an electrician to locate the problem for you.
   • If the meter stopped when the breakers were completely shut off, then turn on one breaker at a time and check the revolutions of the meter in a 30 second time period. This will allow you to identify the largest electric loads by breaker.
4. You may also want to monitor your usage, along with monitoring activities such as doing laundry or using the oven. Create a spreadsheet that monitors the items below. This will help you see what activities create the highest amount of energy usage .



	Daily Meter Reading	KWh Used Daily	Daily Activities
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Weekly Totals



5. It can also be helpful to learn just how many kilowatt hours are being used by each appliance during the month. They can add up pretty quickly. You can figure the usage of any home appliance if you know its wattage (or amps) and how long you use it. Here's how you calculate usage:

   a) Convert amps to watts: amps x 120 volts = watts

   b) Watts x hours used per month = watt hours per month

   c) Watt hours divided by 1,000 = kilowatt hours (kWh)
   (Example: If you use a 100-watt light bulb for 10 hours you would use 1 kWh.)

If you have additional questions about high usage, give us a call at (800) 421-5863.